Huh. Well there’s something. Will Anderson Jr. stood on his numbers from the NFL Scouting Combine at Alabama’s pro day on Thursday, but he did speak with the media on hand when he wasn’t busy shaking hands with the dozens of pro personnel in attendance. And he told Tide 100.9 FM co-host Aidan Dollins that one of the teams he met with most recently is the New Orleans Saints, along with two teams picking in the top 10 of the 2023 NFL draft (the Seattle Seahawks at No. 5 and the Chicago Bears at No. 9), among “a couple other teams.” It appears he’s in high demand.
For context, and just in case you forgot, Anderson is the top prospect in the 2023 draft class. Not top-10, not top-5; he’s the clear-cut consensus best player available, though positional value puts quarterbacks like his Alabama teammate Bryce Young and Ohio State’s CJ Stroud ahead of him on some rankings. If either of them had stayed in school another year he’d be the second overall draft pick at worst.
The 6-foot-3, 253 pounder has racked up 65, 82, and 60 quarterback pressures in three years for Nick Saban’s defense while racking up 34.5 sacks and 58.5 tackles for loss in just 41 career games, using his 33 7/8-inch arms to bring down quarterback after quarterback and keep opposing blockers off of him. He ran the 40-yard dash in just 4.6 seconds with a blazing 10-yard split of 1.61 seconds. It would be nice to have a full athletic profile with agility testing and explosiveness scores, but that wouldn’t exactly help him get drafted any higher than he’s expected to go already.
So, uh, why are the Saints even bothering to talk to him? Could they be looking to push all their chips in and trade all the way up from No. 29, seeing him as their missing piece from a Super Bowl championship? They sure do need more pass rushers, but probably not.
Almost certainly not. Anderson didn’t discuss the depth and content of that conversation; it could’ve been as simple as a Saints scout or position coach asking him about one of his teammates or getting a contact number should they want to have a longer chat later on. By the time the draft rolls around nearly every team has met with almost every player, including teams like the Saints who are picking at the end of the first round and prospects like Anderson who are projected to be picked at the beginning of it.
But it’s good to be prepared. Crazy things can happen on draft day. No one predicted that Laremy Tunsil would be available at No. 13 overall back in 2016. The Saints met with Ed Oliver in 2019, when they didn’t even own a first-round pick. Their intentions are their own. But hey, it sure does make draft season more exciting. This is the phase on the NFL calendar when spicy rumors and speculation are all the rage. And the spice must flow.